Leonardo da Vinci sketched an organ gun as a multi-barrel rapid-fire cannon.
The design arranged many small guns in parallel rows, resembling the pipes of a musical organ. The barrels could be fired in sequence, allowing one group to discharge while another was being reloaded or repositioned.
This arrangement was intended to increase the rate of fire compared with a single cannon. It did not create fully automatic fire, because each barrel still required its own loading and ignition process.
Leonardo’s drawing belongs to a broader Renaissance tradition of volley weapons and multi-barrel artillery. The term “organ gun” describes the visual arrangement of barrels, not a musical function. Leonardo proposed several military machines, but his surviving designs do not prove that this weapon was manufactured or used in battle.